Busting out hate

K-State students express, destroy evil as part of 'The Writing on the Wall' project

Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003

By By Patrice HolderbachSpecial to The Capital-Journal

Once during first grade, Kasper Andersen was waiting for the bus when a sixth-grader approached him, broke his nose and called him a "stupid immigrant."

Another time, a friend's stepfather refused to give Andersen a ride, saying, "No immigrant is going to ride in my American truck."

Now a freshman in construction science management at Kansas State University, Andersen has witnessed much discrimination in the United States and Denmark, where he is originally from.

But just as he took the blows as a child, Andersen was prepared Thursday to crush a different barrier of hatred.

About 100 people helped pull down a wall covered with messages of discrimination, concluding End Discrimination Week, organizer Tiffany Happer said. The scribblings represented experiences and observations from the lives of students and community members.

Messages against minorities, immigrants and homosexuals covered a concrete wall measuring more than five feet tall and 20 feet long. Students were invited throughout the week to paint their impressions as part of a campaign known as "The Writing on the Wall." The wall was across from Haymaker and Moore residence halls.

"I didn't write anything on it, because everything I thought that I wanted to write had all ready been put up there or a friend put it up," said Rachel Trowbridge, a freshman in social work.

Trowbridge said the stereotype "stupid, anorexic (expletive)" upset her because some of her friends have had eating disorders. She said she has heard people use such language carelessly but hoped the wall's existence and destruction would affect the community.

Trowbridge said the project gave participants "a chance to be safe in their expression ... the ability to tear down those stereotypes."

She described the wall as "sombering, disgusting and effective."

"Most of my friends couldn't be here, so I wanted to be here to tear it down for them," Trowbridge said, referring to her friends in McClouth.

Happer, a resident assistant for Goodnow Hall and a junior in architectural engineering, said the wall cost more than $1,000 to build. The event concluded a weeklong series of programs addressing diversity and discrimination issues. Sponsors included eight residence halls, the Union Programming Council, the K-State student chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America and the K-State Association of Residence Halls.

Volunteers monitored the wall throughout the week. In addition to providing the rope for its downfall, Andersen said he camped out a couple evenings to safeguard the area.

After it toppled, he banged out souvenirs from the rubble for spectators.

"People are more than how they appear or where they come from," Andersen said. "People are what's inside. Life experiences are really what makes a person who they are today."

Patrice Holderbach is a student at Kansas State University. She can be e-mailed at prh9944@ksu.edu.